MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



cave; spikelets 1 to 5, imbricate, 2 

 to 3.5 cm. long, excluding the awns, 

 5 to 6 mm. wide; florets closely im- 

 bricate; lemmas scabrous, the slender 

 scabrous erect awn 1 to 2 cm. long. 

 The spikelets resemble those of some 

 species of Agropyron. O — Open 

 ground, Arapahoe County, Colo., 

 Humboldt, Sonoma, and Marin Coun- 

 ties, Calif.; on ballast, Camden, N. 

 J., and Portland, Oreg. Sparingly 

 introduced from Europe, but spread- 

 ing in Marin County, Calif. 



Brachypodium sylvatictjm (Huds.) 

 Beauv. Perennial, 60 to 100 cm. tall; blades 

 to 25 cm. long and 1 cm. wide; raceme 12 to 

 20 cm. long, the spikelets 4 to 5 cm. long, 

 subterete, the lower distant, the upper 

 closely imbricate. 91 Occasionally culti- 

 vated for ornament and in grass gardens. 

 Europe. 



Brachypodium caespitosum (Host) 

 Roem. and Schult., a tall, leafy perennial, 

 with racemes 8 to 12 cm. long of overlapping 

 spikelets 2.5 to 3 cm. long, the lemmas im- 

 bricate, strongly nerved, glabrous, the awns 

 about 5 mm. long. Introduced from Turkey; 

 has been grown at the experiment station, 

 Tucson, Ariz. 



Brachypodium pinnatum (L.) Beauv., 

 similar to the preceding, but with pubescent 

 nodes, scabrous laxer foliage, and narrower 

 spikelets with hirsute lemmas. Introduced 

 from Rumania; has been grown in the Grass 

 Garden, Beltsville, Md. The results of both 

 trials are as yet inconclusive. 



Figure 42. — Brachypodium distachyon. Plant, X X A\ 

 glumes and floret, X 5. (J. T. Howell 23186, Calif.) 



57 



4. FESTUCA L. Fescue 



Spikelets few- to several-flowered (rarely 1-flowered in some of the spikelets 

 of a panicle), the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and between the 

 florets, the uppermost floret reduced; glumes narrow, acute, unequal, the 

 first sometimes very small; lemmas rounded on the back, membranaceous or 

 somewhat indurate, 5-nerved, the nerves often obscure, acute or rarely obtuse, 

 awned from the tip, or rarely from a minutely bifid apex, sometimes awnless. 

 Low or rather tall annuals or perennials, the spikelets in narrow or open 

 panicles. The blades are sometimes somewhat auriculate as in the Hordeae. 

 Standard species, Festuca ovina. Name from Festuca, an old Latin name for a 

 weedy grass. 



Many of the perennial species of fescue are important forage grasses in the 

 grazing regions of the West. Festuca arizonica, Arizona fescue, of northern 

 Arizona and F. idahoensis, Idaho fescue, of the region from Colorado to 

 central California and northward, are important, though they become rather 

 tough with age. F. viridula, greenleaf fescue, locally called mountain bunch- 



